Letters Home
by
Fred Long
|
VIETNAM LETTERS |
| VIETNAM LETTERS PLEIKU Nov. 2, 1967 Dear Mom and Dad. Don't know how long it will take you to get this? I'm now on TDY. The new base is Pleiku. Got here yesterday. I'll be here for 45 days. So far it is a fine base, better than Bien Hoa. I like it, but want to go back there. More people I know and all. 53 of us came up. Out of my shop is Eric Jackson, John Porter, Dean Curd, James Wright, Keith Barney, Steve Hunter, David Cockrell and Pat Stratton. Most of the people that I ran around with is still at Bien Hoa. Come to think of it. All of the people I ran around with are at Bien Hoa. Pleiku is a nice base. Cleaner. Bien Hoa is so dusty and not much for grass. There is a lot of grass here. Not many people. Don't know how safe it is but it is closer to North Vietnam. If you have a map try to find it. About Christmas. Don't send anything yet because we might be here longer and it will go to Bien Hoa and I don't know when it will get to me. You know. Last night I was thinking about what I wanted and this is what it all came down to. Some pictures from home. I would like to have some pictures of the house, inside and out. The yard maybe, snow on the ground. The Christmas tree and all the lights. Yo'all opening all of your presents and all of you having fun. It seems like such a big thing now, and so long ago. It would be so nice to see Mother working in the kitchen and Dad down on the railroad, getting things mixed up. Doug playing records and trying to fix the color on the TV. I think he is the only one that can do that. I try not to think about it but it seems like a million years since I was home. I sometimes wonder if I'll see home again. I better go now. You take it easy now. Fred PS The other day we broke the world's record in combat missions in one day, 142. That was something. Now we hold the record. Combat Dragon is the best. Nov. 5, 1967 Dear Mom and Dad, Not much going on here. Working. My job is to keep a record of the bombs dropped and the amount of ammo used. I go around with a clip board recording the data. Never had an easier job. The guys that have to load the bombs have isolated me. But I didn't ask for this job. I do what I'm told to do. Helped dig a bunker today. We are on 8 hours so that is better. I'm in my room now. Have been here most of the day. Met a guy I knew from Nellis. We talked for a long time. Everything is OK with me. I've had another cold, but it is getting better. I moved out of a room that had ten people in it and into a cubical with only one other person. I haven't seen him yet. Reading a book called "Wake Up Screaming." It has several short stories and I've read most of them. Between missions I go to the flight line and lay on the grass to read so I won't be bothered. That's all for now. Hope everything is OK. Going to eat and do some reading. Nothing from Jimmy. Fred Nov. 6, 1967 Dear Mom and Dad, I just received your letters of Oct. 30 and 31. You said the last one you had from me was Oct. 18. By now you have surely gotten one from me. But you haven't. I get your letters about six days after you mail them. You might get mine sooner. You should get them in three or four days. How long did it take you to get this one? It will leave here Nov. 7, 1967 at one in the morning. By the time you get this you should be getting other letters from me that I have already sent. About things to send. Don't send anything until I get back in Bien Hoa. No chocolate please. O.K. Everything is fine at this end. It's colder here. The VC are 45 miles away and Bien Hoa was hit yesterday. Glad I wasn't there. I don't think anyone I know was hurt. I hope not. Didn't work to hard today. Things are OK here. Get off at 5 or 5:30. Have plenty of time to relax and do a little reading. Time goes by fast here. It must go slow for yo'all. Fred Nov. 6, 1967 Dear Mom and Dad, You won't believe this but I'm down to five envelopes. Now a lot of them are still at Bien Hoa, but I have used nine of them tonight. Writing Bill Anderson, David Lane, Davie Madison, H. F. Cooper, Jimmy Lawson, Gary Miller, Daniel Serrano (you don't know him) and two to you. Now that I have more time I'm trying to get my letters out more timely. This should get you two letters in one day. I'm still fine. Nothing is going to happen to me. It is almost time for bed. I have already mailed the first letter so this might go tonight or tomorrow, don't know which. I'll write again tomorrow. Fred Nov. 7, 1967 Dear Mom and Dad, Didn't do that much today. This place is like being on a vacation compared to Bien Hoa. Got your letter saying you had mine of Oct. 25. I'm sleepy so this will be short. While at work I went on the flight line and started reading James Bond "You Only Live Twice." I should finish it tomorrow. Between missions I go to the flight line to read and lay on the grass. It's peaceful there. I like being alone by myself. Didn't write letters like I did last night. Just did some reading. Not much more to say. Fred Nov. 11, 1967 Dear Mom and Dad, I will go through your letters trying to answer your questions. I did get a lot of letters today. Two from you that were sent on the 2nd and 3rd of Nov., one from H. F. and Mr. Tease and one from Linda Reed (whoever she is). By-the-way, my hair is coming back out. I had every bit of it cut off because it's so hot here. But it's coming back out and I'm beginning to look like my old self again. I have asked to go back to Nellis after I leave here. I should get it. I hope so. I liked it in Vegas. It hasn't rained here for over a week. I don't know what it is doing at Bien Hoa. I have seen it raining on one side of the flight line and dry as a bone on the other side. Just a wall of rain. Stand on one side and be dry. Take four steps and you're wet to the skin. Strange. Our barracks is different here. The walls are closed in because it gets cool it night. Haven't used any bug spray. Not that many bugs to bother us. Anyway on the 9th work started at 12:00, on the 10th 12:00, 11th, 06:45; 12th, 06:45; 13th, 12:00; 14th, 06:45. I don't know how long we will be here. The orders call for 45 days but it might be more, it might be less. I like it here, but I still want to go back to Bien Hoa where most of my friends are. I get paid more here so that helps too. I just do what I'm told to do. They give me a work order and I go out and do it. But here, for the most part, I just walk around with a clip board recording the amount of ammo used. I've only gone off base a few times. I ride everywhere I go. It is interesting to talk to the people. Most of them can speak a little English and so we can do some talking and I'm still working on learning Vietnamese. I went in this place to get something to eat. I had my Vietnamese Dictionary with me and this old lady came up and started talking to me. She sat across from me and we talked for sometime. She said she thought I was her son when she first saw me. She said I looked like the Vietnamese except for the eyes. Between her English and my Vietnamese we got along pretty good. She said I was learning the language and doing very well. I thanked her, then she reached out for my hand and I let her look at it. She said I was a hard worker and that I had strong hands. She held my hand for a long time. I wonder what she was thinking. I don't think the food is bad. I eat with my fingers and chop sticks. Now you may think chop sticks are hard to eat with. They aren't, not at all. I didn't have any trouble with them. They had some kind of meat (I've been told they eat dog and monkey so I didn't eat any of it). Some kind of salad. Had a lot of onions in it. Not bad. Rice and some kind of soup. It wasn't bad either. Also had bananas, three of them. They were only about three inches long. And half a grapefruit. I didn't know what it was until I started eating it. It was good. That is the only time I have eaten anything in town. I have also talked to some of the men in town and on base about their feelings about the war. Some of them have seen war all their life and just think it is a way of life and don't think much about it. Others wish it would come to an end and appreciate our help. From what I can gather they really want our help and after the war they want self-governing. I don't talk to people off base that much because I don't want to start talking to someone that isn't on our side. I always take my pocket dictionary with me when I go off base. I read when ever I can. Go out on the flight line and read between missions. I'm reading Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" now. It's great. A couple of days ago I was on the flight line reading and Col. Bottomly came by and laid on the grass beside the flight line a few feet down from me. I looked at him and he had his hands behind his head looking at the sky. I went back to reading. A few minutes later one of our planes went by and I got up to move, I've been doing that, but he didn't. The wings of the plane went over him and he didn't move. I went back to reading and when the next plane passed by us I didn't move either. I looked at him while the plane taxied down the runway and he just kept looking up at the sky. The wing crossed over him and when it passed he stood up and walked away. He was teaching me that I didn't have to move because the planes were taxiing down the run way. It was a special moment. I said I would have a late Christmas. That was deep thinking. I don't expect you to understand. I don't know why I said it either. That is all for now. Fred PS notice I didn't ask for anything. I could use a bar of soap, people are beginning to talk. (That was just a joke). Nov. 16, 1967 Dear Mom, Your letter came today and thank you for the envelops. I needed them, thanks. They don't have any at the BX and I don't like going around asking people for envelops. Things have changed here. We go to work at 8:30 and get off at 7:30. I don't know why things have stepped up. We might go on a 12 hour schedule next week. Do you remember the movie "The Uninvited" staring Ray Milland? It was a great movie, made around 1944. I just finished reading the book and was it good! I'm going to send it to Bobby Brydie as soon as I have time to go get stamps at the post office. Don't ask me to go into details about what I do. I don't load the bombs on the A37s. They have other people that do that. What I do is meet all the jets when they come in and check to see if the gun's fired and if they dropped the bombs and fire rockets. I keep a record of everything. I can't tell you what we are doing here right now. Maybe later. Today was really the first really hard work day. Didn't stop until around 2:30. The planes going up and coming back around the clock. I'm at work now. This morning someone got mixed up and we didn't get the right number of bombs and got behind and never did catch up till now. We are waiting for 518 and 519 to come down and then they will put the bombs on and take the LAUs (they have rockets in them) off. After that we will be finished for the day. Of course if there's a gun jam we might be here another hour, but I don't expect that. Other than reading "The Uninvited" and trying to learn more Vietnamese I'm not doing much. I'm still putting a $100 in my savings account every month and since I couldn't write any letters the past few days I went to the movies. One was a Walt Disney, "The Absent Minded Professor" and the next day was some movie with Tony Curtis. I didn't catch the name of it but it was a good movie. I haven't gone to any of the others because by the time I get off work they have already started. I haven't gone off base here. In my last letter I was talking about when I was at Bien Hoa. You can only go into town here between 1 and 5. Everything is relaxed right now and we are waiting for the jets to land. They should be back in about 40 minutes. I don't know if I told you this but we don't have any milk here. I miss that. The food is OK but no milk. That's all for now. Take it easy and I'll write again soon. Fred Nov. 17, 1967 Dear Mom, I said so much yesterday that I don't have anything to say today. We had some trouble with one of the nose guns today. A piece of it broke and Pat Stratton and I changed the gun. Pat and I are getting along good. I'm getting along good with everyone. Haven't done much today. The A37s land in 40-minutes. Then I'll start debriefing the planes. It's 12 noon now. Now! Dad your questions. I can't speak Vietnamese fluently although I'm learning enough to communicate. I'm not leaving Combat Dragon. I and 52 other people are here TDY on a Combat Dragon mission. We will go back to Bien Hoa sometime to complete the mission we have been assigned to do. I can't tell you what we're doing. Maybe after it is over. It wouldn't do you any good to know anyway. It's just a job we have to do. I was on a detail helping to dig a bunker. Ask all the questions you want. I'll answer the one's I can. It looks like I'll be here till the wee hours of the night, tonight. Pat and I have to change a circuit breaker in one of the A37s and a relay switch before tomorrow morning. It is hard to say how long that will take. Number 526 come's down at 6:30 and we can get on the relay switch at 7:00 (I hope). But 511 doesn't come back till 7:00 so we won't get on the circuit breaker till the switch is changed on 526. That means we probably won't get started on 511 until 9:00. 511 just took off. It is the last jet to fly today. I had to stop. I've really put in a full day today. It is 5:20 now. It's cold here. At night it gets down to 65 and it feels cold. Yesterday it was 99 degrees in Bien Hoa and that means it was about 89 degrees here and it feels cold. Yesterday I had to put on my shirt. Here comes 504. Hope everything is OK with it. 504 was OK. Now we wait for 509 to land. I put my shirt back on. I'll be glad to get back to Bien Hoa where it is nice and hot. I like it better hot than cold. Everyone has gone to eat and I'm the only one here. I'll go to eat after the others get back. I'm hungry too. The food is OK, but no milk. I think I'll write a letter to Bill Dexter. He is at Bien Hoa. I told him I would drop him a note while I was up here. Talk to you later, Fred Nov. 23, 1967 Dear Mom and Dad, How is everything? Got a letter from Jimmy Lawson, David Lane and Davie Madison today. I'm going to go through your letters and answer your questions. By-the-way, if you see people like Bill Anderson, stop and talk to them and find out how they are getting along. Still at Pleiku. Got your package. Ate everything and everything was great. We have two women that comes here to clean the barracks. She has a little girl that comes too most of the time. I gave her a toy truck and you should have seen her face light up. It might have been the first toy the kid has ever had. After she played with it for awhile she started looking inside to see how it worked. Today is Thanksgiving Day. Now! today for lunch we had the best meal I've had since in the Air Force. I wonder what Christmas will be like at Bien Hoa? I would like to be there for Christmas. I'll be going back to Bien Hoa about the fifth I heard. Hope everything is fine. Fred Dec. 4, 1967 Dear Mom, I hope you can read this. I'm doing it in total darkness. We have really been busy. We have been going so hard that they have run out of bombs. We are flying 250 pound bombs. I'm still at Pleiku. Don't know how much longer. I might go back to Bien Hoa on the 7th or 8th. Hope so. I go to work now at 12 and get off at 12. I get up to go to work around 10:30 and have plenty of time to eat and get to work. It really gets cold here. I'm going to get a 35 m.m. camera when I get back to Bien Hoa and I'll send you some pictures. A few nights back someone here used a stencil and painted "Made By Mattel" on the nose of our A37s. To get even I made a stencil of a dragon and last night I went around with a spray can painting the dragon on the nose of their A1Es. I was caught. They didn't do anything but tell me not to do it again. I felt so stupid. Not for what I did but because I got caught doing it and I guess they were watching me go from plane to plane painting this little dragon. But I got most of these old WWII prop planes. I have a new address. It is no longer Det 1-3 CSG but 604th ACS (Air Commando Squadron). Isn't that great! I'm glad that my address is now to our outfit. A1C Fred Long Box 11315 604th ACS APO San Francisco 96227 Might be here till the 15th now. They were talking and someone from Bien Hoa was here. Don't know when we are leaving. Tell Jerry Lilly thank you for the package. After I opened the package someone threw her address away. I got the nuts, shirt and socks. I put them on last night. Not the nuts I ate them. I don't really like working at night. I have to go on the flight line to meet the A37 when they come back and you can see the ground fire from where I am. It was bad Thanksgiving night. The VC got three of our trucks that night. It was a mile away. They could never get on the base and I feel safe. I'll write again tomorrow. Fred |
| VIETNAM LETTERS TET Dec. 19, 1967 Dear Mom and Dad, I'm back at Bien Hoa. I'm in a new barracks. On the ground floor. I like it better than the old one because I have more room and I'm right next door to the latrine, ha ha. No more walking from one end of the barracks to the other to take a shower. Leonard Barnett is my room mate. We get along great. I've been here three days, arrived back on Dec. 16, and didn't write before because I've been processing in and moving into my new locker. Still doing that. I bought a camera yesterday. It's a good one and cost $99. It's a Yashica J-7. About the best you can buy. Made in Japan. It's nice to be back here but it seems different. Like starting all over again. I have met all my old friends, but they are working different shifts and all. Have to go eat now. I'll write again. Fred Dec. 29, 1967 Dear Mom and Dad, Things are fine at this end. It's 10 now so the lights will be going out in a minute. Nothing much to say. Had a nice Christmas dinner, but it wasn't as good as the Thanksgiving meal at Pleiku. Today was payday. I didn't cash the check. Do that tomorrow. Nothing more to say. Fred Jan. 4, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Everything is OK. Hope everything is OK with you two. I sent you some pictures of the base a few days ago. They aren't very good. Really bad. I don't know enough about the camera. You should get them before you get this. I might have tomorrow off. If I get the day off I'm going in town and take some pictures. I'm sending you a plaque for our outfit. It's nice and you can put it on the wall. I'm working the afternoon/evening shift now. Go in at noon and get off at midnight. Leonard Barnett bought a radio. It's nice to have a radio in our cube. I got a lot of nice things for Christmas. Nuts, shirt and socks. A lot of good things to eat from you and Daddy. A fruitcake from the DeMolay. More things to eat from Aunt Jossie. Nuts from David, thanked him. Something to eat from the Woman's Club. Bought some new clothes in town the other day. A nice silk shirt and dress pants, tailored. I also had them make a tuxedo for me. It cost $70 but I think it will come in handy when I get back to the States. I'll be sending it to you. I haven't cashed my check yet. Haven't had time. I'll do that tomorrow and put $150 in the bank. I'm behind with my savings because of buying the camera and clothes. Must go now. Fred Jan. 6, 1967 Dear Mom and Dad, Not much to say. Things here are fine. Still working 12 to 12. Don't mind it. Yesterday Leonard thought someone stole his radio. When we got back to the barracks it wasn't on the table where he put it. The woman that cleans put it under his pillow when she made the bed. She is hard working and everyone likes her. Not much to say. Working everyday. Wish they would give us some time off. Haven't had a day off since I got back here. Went in town with a few guys yesterday for an hour or so. Enjoy getting off base from time to time. Nothing more to say, Fred Jan. 18? 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Thank you for the pictures from home. They are nice. Everything looks so nice. I wish I was home watching TV and not here working like a dog. We have had some really busy days. Still going 12 hours a day and very little time off. Only about six more months to go. It will be good to get back home for awhile. I got a lot of your letters at one time so let's see what is in them. Doug. I can't send you any Vietnamese coins. When I come home I'll bring you some. The smallest I have seen is 5 Dong, about 3¢ 10 Dong is 8¢ 20 Dong about 16¢ 50 Dong is 60¢ 100 Dong, $1.20 200 Dong, $2.40 500 Dong, $4.25 Something like that. I'll try to bring some back with me. OK. I didn't get the letters for Jan. 3 and 4. I guess they were lost. I've saved $450. I know it should be more and I'm playing catchup now. I have $80 put aside that only one other person, Leonard, knows about. I don't know if I told you but the night before I left England AFB someone went through by billfold. I had $50 in it but not where it should be. I had it behind a compartment in the billfold and they didn't see it. I know who did it. While at England we ran around a lot together. I was surprised that he would do that, but he didn't get the money so that is OK. Leonard took the picture of me that I'm sending you. The jet is the A37. I think you will like this one. The other one is when I was at Pleiku. (I can't remember the name of the guy that took this). I had just finished taking a shower and washing my hair. All for now. Fred Jan. 24, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, The letter you just received I wrote a long time ago. I don't know how long ago. I thought I had mailed it, but didn't. I'm sorry. I'm on the morning shift now. I go in at 4 and get off at noon. I'm the only one until 6:30 when the other guys start coming in. My job is to check all the MA4A racks and see they are OK and clean and fix those that don't work right. I clean all of them whether they need it or not. Helps make the time go faster. Had another shirt made for me. This is the kind of shirt you would wear on stage, not on the street. I'll wear it if I ever get to Nashville. I haven't sent the tux yet. When you send your next care package I'll put it in the box and send it to you. Glad you liked the plaque. I bought it. Everything is fine here. Everyone is working hard. All for now, Fred Jan. 30, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, I just got finished taking my shower and after I write this I'm going to bed. Worked from 4:00 to 12 these past two weeks. My last day on this shift will be Feb. 3. Then I go from 3:30 to whatever time I get off. After two weeks of that I go to 7:30 to 4:30. I don't know how long I'll be on that shift. We had a VC working on base as a barber. He was the best one and I always let him do my hair. He seemed to be a nice guy. He didn't cut off my sideburns. They let me have sideburns here. Yesterday the VC were putting rockets up about five miles from here. I'm told to hit Long Bien. We dropped bombs on the rocket site and when the Army went in he was there dead. He was a spy. You never can tell. This is the Vietnamese New Year. From Monday to Friday. Their was a truce, but the VC broke it last night. They hit a lot of our bases. Almost all of them. No one expected that. I don't think they will try anything here. Bien Hoa is a safe base and if anything was going to happen we would know about it ahead of time. Didn't do much today. Spent most of my time in the shop. They had to put a dual rate system in one of the aircraft so I stayed till two because I wanted to learn how it is done. Now I know. Not much to it. I'm thinking about writing a book about being here. Maybe a short story or something. Another guy wrote something and sent it to a magazine and they paid him $50 for it. He got in trouble because of it, but I would get anything I write cleared before I sent it. I've gone to the movies a few times. The best one so far has been "10 Little Indians." Saw "The Greatest Story Ever Told" too but couldn't hear it. The jets were drowning out the sound. The jets are always taking off. They must take off every few minutes. Not just ours but others. It goes on all the time. Trucks are always going by the barracks and they are just as bad. It really doesn't bother me, except when I'm trying to hear something. Sometimes you can't even talk. Leonard, my roommate, and I were talking and I said "Everything was going fine until" (and the jets went up drowning me out) "and that's why it happened." It got a laugh. Things are just fine here, Fred Feb. 2, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, I'm sure you have gotten one of my letters by now. I don't know how fast mail is sent out of here. This letter might not go out for a few days. Today I received your letter dated Jan. 25. So it took a week for that letter to get to me. So you should have my last letter by now. I'm sorry I didn't send the other letter sooner. Things happen here. One minute you are doing one thing and the next minute you are doing another. We have a lot to try to remember and work comes first. Sometimes we think we did something when we didn't. It has been bad here since Jan. 31. I'm not going into all of it, but that morning the base was hit with mortar shells and rocket fire and VC got on the base. 153 were killed and 25 captured. A rocket hit our barracks but no one was seriously hurt. I'm fine. The rocket landed in the latrine. I'm in a new barracks now. None of my stuff was damaged. I'm fine, just tired that's all. Haven't had a good nights sleep since Jan. 30. Didn't sleep that night after 3:00 am. I think it will be quiet tonight, but we are still on alert. Town is off-limits. We lost one of our jets. The A37A had napalm and 750 pound bombs on it when a mortar hit it. I got some pictures of it after the attack and while the attack was going on. No one that I know got hurt bad. One guy was shot in the hip. I talked to him today. He is OK. He is the only one in our squadron that was shot. Jackson got something in his leg. It might have been wood when the rocket hit our barracks. I don't know, but he is OK too. I'm going to close now. I'll write again soon, Fred Feb. 5, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, You asked me to write everyday. I'll try. Everything is back to normal and we have been assured what happened the other day won't happen again. Everything is back to SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). Not much today. Went to work and had to change a gun and fix a jam. That's about all. After work went to eat and to a movie. "The Way West" with Robert Mitchum, Richard Whidmark and Kert Douglas. I enjoyed it. This is the Vietnamese new year. Tet is a very big holiday for them. I'm looking forward to seeing what happened in town, but it is off limits for now. I'm not working from 4 to 12 midnight tomorrow. I will the day after tomorrow. The next day I should be off. It is daylight here from 7 to 7:30. I have a lot of film that I took when the base was hit and that needs to be developed. I'll send them to you. I liked the Christmas pictures you sent me. That's all for now. More to follow. Fred Feb. 6, 1968 Dear Mom I just finished a letter to Bob Brydie. Not much to say today. Everything is fine. Went to work. After work came back, showered, talked and now going to bed. Not much today. Maybe more tomorrow. Fred Feb. 8, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, I did a lot of thinking before writing this letter. Now I haven't said anyth ing about extending for another six months for a long time. I haven't forgotten about it either. I know that you don't want me to stay over here, but look at it this way. If I extend I will get a free 30-day leave to go anywhere I would like to go. I could go to any Air Force base free and stay on the base and still see some more of the world. I don't know where I would go. Maybe Japan or Germany. Italy or England sound good to me. There is an Air Force base everywhere. I could see Rome or London. It would be nice to see those places don't you think? The 30-day leave would count as time here and I could return to Bien Hoa for the last five months. After that I can pick any base in the world I would like to be on. I would like to be stationed in Japan. That would be for two years. I know you are looking forward to me coming home and I too look forward to that. But this may be my only chance to see the rest of the world. I know when I get back to the States I'll never get out of the US again. If I'm going to extend I have to do it before March 1. Not a lot of time left. Don't you think it would be nice to see Rome or Naples? I really would like to see those places. Now I'm thinking about taking R & R (Relax and Recreation). Some of the other guys have signed up for it. I'm thinking about maybe the Philippines. This would be around April. Let me know what you think about my thoughts. Good or Bad. I'm fine. Going to bed now. I have to be at work at 7:30. I'll write again tomorrow. Fred Feb. 11, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, I have made up my mind about extending. I'm not going to do it. It would be nice to see the rest of the world, but after yesterday and this morning all I want to do is get back to the world where I belong. Not that I shouldn't be here, it's just such a mixed up crazy war. I know communism must stop somewhere, but this playing with lives is just plain crazy. I haven't seen anything about Saigon, so you may know more about it than I do. But what has happened in Bien Hoa I do know. You said you didn't hear much about it here, just in Saigon. Well we had quite a war for several days, and a little ever since. Last night it was really bad. Just after midnight they started pounding us with rockets. 20 of them. The alert sirens went off and we evacuated the barracks running to the bunker just like we did on the morning of the 9th when we were hit with 12 rockets and mortars. It was tense, all of us crowded together. We could hear the rockets crossing the base and someone said a barracks next to us had been hit. Some of us went out and the barracks was burning. I grabbed a fire extinguisher from the ground floor and some of us went to the second floor and I put the fire out. A man was injured and he was carried from his room on a board down the steps to the ground. Medics arrived but they didn't do much and I couldn't understand why they didn't take him to the hospital when one of them told me he was dead. This thing is too crazy for me. We were told we were safe and no VC were near us. We were told we were winning and the Vietnamese Army was being driven behind the DMZ. Not true. I could tell you a lot of things I don't like about this war, but that wouldn't help anything. I haven't been off base since Jan. 24. Bien Hoa is off limits and I don't have any desire to go off base. May never go off base again. We have water now. I'm in a new barracks and I'm fine. It's almost 10 so will be going to bed. I hope tonight will be a quiet night. Fred Feb. 17, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Everything is fine now. I'm not going to extend over here. I hope they don't call me to come back. I didn't really want to see Japan and those other places anyway. It would cost too much money and I want to save as much as possible. I put $180 in the bank this past month. Don't know how much I've saved. Did you get my letters? I haven't been getting yours for a few days now. I think you better stop the paper. I haven't had one for about three weeks now. Don't know what is going on, but you might as well stop it if I can't get it. Got a letter from David, said he was going to quit school. Said he doesn't have anymore money. I hope he doesn't get drafted. I have been doing a lot of reading on the war effort and all that has been going on. It doesn't seem like the war can last much longer. Of course it will be another year or so. But when you look at how long it has been that isn't so long. Everything is back to normal again so will close for now. Fred Feb. 18, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, The base was hit again last night. 21 rockets this time. I'm not going to listen to anything they say again. I'm fine. They hit us at night so we can't sleep. This time it started at 1 in the morning. Not much more to say. Tired and getting little sleep. Fred Feb. 19, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, How is everything back home? Hope everything is OK. Working night's 4:30 to 12. Going to put in for R & R tomorrow. I'll let you know where I'm going when I make up my mind. The woman that comes here to clean our barracks is polishing my shoes now. Did I tell you the VC burned down her house? That was terrible. She is staying with friends. Don't know how much work they will have for me. Hope it isn't much. We have three Momasons in here now. Boy! they love me. I gave one of them a lighter. You should hear them talking. It's a nice day today. I had a good night sleep. Slept till 11. I wanted to get up at 9:30 but didn't. I write again soon. Fred Feb. 21, 1968 Dear Mom & Dad, Had a long day yesterday. Got up at 9:30. Did some reading. "Vietnam in the Mud." It is a good book by James Pickerell. I have a few more chapters to go. Went to the BX and by that time I had to go to work. Didn't get off till 4:20 the next morning (today). Went to breakfast and got to bed at 6. Then got up again at 9:30. Couldn't sleep. I went so long on so little sleep that now when I can sleep I don't want to. Did more reading and then went to work at 3. Didn't start till 4:30 but didn't have anything else to do so went on down. Didn't do anything but read another book. Had to work till 8:30 and came back here. It is now 10:30. I got back at 9 and took a shower and talked to some of the guys and started my letter. I got a lot of letters today. One from Mr. Tease and five from you. We were hit Saturday and Sunday, 10 & 11. You said two were injured and only slight damage. That night two were killed and a third died later Sunday. The barrack next to mine was hit. The first rocket. Two were killed then. The second hit two barracks down and another was killed. He died immediately, never knew he was hit. Three jets were destroyed. One an F4C. The jets didn't bother me but those rockets were just to close for me. After getting in the bunker we could hear people yelling. Then someone said "did you see that barracks, it was hit." I was near the front and went out with some of the others. The rockets were crossing the base from where we were. When I got to the front of the barracks where it was hit there were about 10 people there getting people out. They carried someone out. I looked at him and almost got sick. Grabbed a fire extinguisher and went up stairs fast. The place was on fire. People were in there trying to get more out. I tried to put the fire out. It looked hopeless and fought it by myself while others worked to get the people out. We finally got everyone out and even put the fire out. And I decided to not extend. The attack on Jan. 31 was another close call. A rocket landed and went all over the end of the barracks in the latrine (bath room). If someone had been in there they would not have come out alive. My room was just a wall away. We moved into a new barracks. Everything is quite now. It seems like every time I think we won't be hit again we are hit. So I'm not saying anything. We have been hit five times since Jan. 30. I'm fine, Fred Feb. 23, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Not much going on now. Everything is quiet. I think it might end soon. I hope so. We have been working hard, all of us. Don't have much to say right now. Tired. We are all tired. Enclosed is my W2. If I get anything back have it put in the bank. Not much more to say. Might get off early tonight. I'll write again soon. Fred Feb. 29, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Today is payday. I think I told you about the Lincoln pennies I'm going to buy to complete my set. These are brilliant uncirculated and they are: 1909-VDB, 1909, 1909-S, 1910, 1910-S, 1911, 1911-D, 1911-S and 1912. This will make the book look better, don't you think? These are going to cost $200, but in 10 years they might be worth $1,000. The Momasons are married and unmarried Vietnamese women. They do our clothes, make our beds and polish our shoes. We pay them $4.25 a month. I told you about them once when I was at Pleiku. I gave them some nuts and one of their kids a toy at Thanksgiving. Now I don't want you to get all excited but I might be home for my birthday. I've heard some talk that we might leave early. That would be nice. I would like to be home for my birthday. By the time you get this letter you will probably hear that the base got hit again on the 28th. This has been a bad month. They hit us with 30 rockets and mortars. I'm fine. I wonder what March will be like. I'm back on days now. This is March 1. I didn't have time to finish the letter yesterday. I wanted to tell you about the 27th-28th. We were ready for the attack. Somehow they knew it would happen. Worked 14 hours that night and on the 28th at 1:00 that morning it started. Within 15 minutes we were after the VC and I'm told we killed over 150 of them. I was on the flight line when the first rocket came down. It wasn't close to us. We started running to the bunker when the guy in front of me realized he had a tool in his hand. He threw it hard on the ground and it came back and hit me on the leg. He said he didn't know why he didn't let go of the tool before we all started running. I wasn't hurt bad and he didn't mean to do it. No one I know was hurt that night. Things are back to normal now. It seems strange that they keep trying to take the bases. That of Tan Son Nhut (Saigon), Long Binh (between Saigon and Bien Hoa) and our base. To my knowledge we have lost three while they have lost 300. But they keep coming. And we keep pushing them back. But it seems when we are pushing in one direction they are coming at us from the other. Don't worry about me. I'm fine. Might have the day off tomorrow. Fred March 3, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, This is just a note. I'm going to try to find a box to send the tux home in. I don't want to keep it here much longer. I have been trying to get it out of here for a long time, but can't find a box to put it in. I got today off but didn't have time to cash my check. I'll try to do that on my next day off. That will be sometime next week if nothing goes wrong. Everything seems to be quiet again now. Went to a movie and the library with Dexter. Dexter is a lot of fun to be with. Working with Pete a lot too. Seems every assignment that comes in we do it together. He was a trash collector in New York and about as strong as a bull. If I can't pick the ammo drum up, he can. I can get my hands in places where he has trouble so we make a good team. Maybe sometime this month the town will go back on limits. I would like to find out what has happened to town. Got an application in the mail to join the VFW. I might join this month. This is all for now. Fred March 5, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, This is just going to be just a note because I have to go in at 4:00 tomorrow morning and work till 12:00 so going to bed after writing this. We were hit again with 20 rockets on the morning of the 4th. It seems every time I think its over it starts up again. Hard to sleep because every night you think you are going to be attacked again. Sleep with one eye open. No one was hurt that I know of. This whole thing is to keep our nerves on edge. I put in to go back to Pleiku today. Don't know if they will let me go back again or not. Time will tell. If I go to Pleiku I won't go R & R. But that is all right with me. I don't know about coming home in June now. I think what is going to happen is I'll leave the 604th and go to another squadron. You see, we all came over together and will all leave around the same time. They can't let the entire squadron leave at one time so we will be changing squadrons with someone. Like someone with three months here will take my place and I'll take his. When I leave the new squadron to come home, someone stateside will come to take my place. It will all happen over a period of time. Not all at once like when we came over. Do you understand? If you can't I'll try to explain it better in another letter. All for now. Fred March 17, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Things here are fine. Not much to say. The alert sirens sounded and we ran to the bunker last night, but nothing happened. That was a relief. A few nights ago we were hit with rockets again. Never know when they are going to hit. Wish this would end. My R & R is confirmed. I'll be leaving on April 8 for Penang. Dexter and I are going together. We are going to the library in a few days to find out about the place. I don't know a thing about Penang. Not going to Pleiku and staying on days. Working the day shift from 7:30 to 4:30. It isn't a bad shift but I really like working nights better because you can sleep in in the morning. I have a new guitar. A Vietnamese friend of mine bought it for me in Saigon for 1700 p. That is about $15.00. It's nice and it was nice of him to do that for me. I can't play it but I'm trying. I got a letter from the manager of the Freemont Theatre at Las Vegas yesterday. That was a surprise. I use to stop by and talk to him every time I went into town. He is going to help me find a job singing if I get stationed at Nellis again. How about that! Not much more to add. Will write again soon. Fred March 22, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, I have plenty of envelops now. Hold off sending anymore until the wet season comes again. I'll let you know in plenty of time if I can't get any here. Your care package came today and thank you very much for everything. (The goodies go fast). I can't use the box to send the tux home so Monday or Tuesday I'm going to try (if it takes the entire day) to send it home. I want to get it out of here before the rainy season starts up again. I'm ordering the coins from stateside. They will be sent to your address. It won't be long till I leave for my R & R. I'm getting short. I've got my orders and I'll be leaving from Cam Ranh Bay on April 3 and returning on April 8. Dexter and I went to the library a few days go and we are really excited about getting out of here, even if it's only for a few days. Hope I get my stateside orders soon. I asked for Nellis but that doesn't mean I'll get it. Another picture. This is Leonard Barnett. He is my room mate. At the moment he is on a three day pass and won't be back for two more days. Don't know if I told you but I'm not going back to Pleiku. It would have been nice to be in a different place for awhile. Didn't make it. No big thing. You'll never guess what happened today. I lost my shirt. I don't have any idea what happened to it. When I went to work I took it off. When it was time to quit and go home I couldn't find it. I've got to buy a few new ones anyway. Keep me informed about Jimmy Lawson. I hope it isn't as bad as you say. I'm fine and hope everyone else is the same. We were hit again last night, more rockets. First time in a long time. No one was hurt as far as I know. Closing for now. Fred |
| VIETNAM LETTERS AFTER TET April 2, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Things are fine here. Getting ready for my R & R. Got paid and taking plenty of money with me. Heard Johnson's speech. Couldn't believe it. When he said we wouldn't bomb North Vietnam anymore I just felt like we were being abandoned. How do you win if you don't bomb the enemy? It's all crazy. I'm glad to be getting out of here even if it's only for a few days. So he isn't going to run again. Maybe that is best. I'm doing fine. Work hasn't slowed down, but it makes the day go faster. Dexter and I went out to see the old French barracks and I took several pictures. I'll send them to you. All for now, Fred April 10, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, I got back from Penang today. You know, they sent all my mail to Pleiku. Don't know what caused that mix up. So I don't know when I'll be getting my letters from you. I hope you aren't mad at me for not writing for such a long time. I really didn't have time to send a letter out when at Penang or how about doing it and getting ready to leave took a lot of time too. I wanted to write before we left, but didn't have as much time as I thought we were going to have. I'm sending you all of the postcards I bought. The first day I didn't do much but get my room and went around town. It's a beautiful place. Clean and everything is nice. We got here around 5 o'clock. I cleaned up and took a tour of the town till around 7:30. Went to a dance at the hotel and stayed till around 11 then went to bed. The next day went to see Sleeping Buddha. Some guy bothered me the entire time I was there wanting to take my picture for $3.00. I told him no but he kept bothering me. Then he took my picture but I told him I didn't want him to take my picture and didn't pay for it. After that went back to the hotel, cleaned up. Went to a place and bought some new clothes. Went to a movie. It was in English but had Chinese subtitles under it. It was a good movie, but I don't remember the name of it. The next day took a tour of the city and saw all the big homes and after that went swimming and went to another movie. This was a war movie, no subtitles. After the movie went to a place and bought some records and a record player. That night Dexter and I got together and went to a real fancy restaurant. Had a great time. The next day I went back to Sleeping Buddha and took some pictures with my camera, went to another movie, and that night went to a Chinese night club where Coke's cost $3.00!! I just bought one and made it last about two hours. They had a Chinese singer and I thought she was good. The next and last day I went to the top of Penang Hill, I guess the biggest tourist attraction. Spent the entire day and had a lot of fun just looking at everything. Wonderful place. Went to bed early and made ready to leave the next day. I took about 60 pictures and had a wonderful time. I'll write again soon. I'm not going back to Nellis. I'll be going to California. Mather AFB wherever that is. Fred April 14, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Leonard is fine. I went R & R by jet. Stateside base is Mather. I'll tell you about that later. Leonard is from Illinois. Things are just fine with me. I have never seen "Dagora, The Space Monster." Time isn't going fast now. Not for me. Not going to send the tux home now. I'll just pack it when I leave. Bien Hoa is still "off limits." I could use some underwear, size 28. I can't find underwear to fit me here at all. Looking forward to the next care package, the last one was great. But hold off on the sweets. Can't have them around long or the bugs get in them. Now about Mather. I know you're dying (excuse that word) anxious to hear about this. Mather is in Sacramento. It's about 30 miles from San Francisco, so that means when I return I'll get about $1.80 travel pay. Maybe enough to get a bus from San Francisco to Sacramento. Thank you Uncle Sam. Anyway it will probably cost about $180 to get back to Hinton. This will be a 17 day leave and it might be better if I wait a few months to take leave. Maybe wait until around Christmas time so we can all be together for Christmas and take 30 days. What do you think? If you want me to come home I will. You asked how much I've saved. I have about $1,350 when I leave. But I won't be able to get it till I'm stateside. Fred April 20, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, I have just finished checking over my money. When I leave here I should have $1,223.00 saved not counting the 10% interest. After that I should get one more check. If I get paid here all the better for me. If I don't this is what I plan to do. I will go to San Francisco and from there to L.A. I'll stay there with a friend, Tony Neidhard, and return to Mather to collect my pay and come home. Tony is going to be stationed at Mather too. I will be leaving here around the end of July, I think July 28, 1968. This will put me in L.A. for four or five days. I may go to Nellis to get my pay. I know that base and wouldn't have any trouble finding my way around. Might find some old friends, never know. I will be coming home. I will enjoy the rest and it's no sense waiting till Christmas. I think I'll take my money out of the bank there and put it in the bank in Sacramento. They pay 5.5% interest. I'm also going to increase my bonds. They are tax deductible and should lower my income tax. I have several of them since I started buying them at Nellis. All for now, Fred April 22, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Dear Mom (already said that). I've been checking into everything. When I get to S.F. I can (if possible go to L.A.). A friend, you may remember, Tony Neidhard, of mine lives in L.A. and he is going to find out if I can stay at his home while there. You may remember I loaned him $90.00 when we were at England AFB. If I have my pay sent to Nellis AFB I can catch a hop from Nellis to somewhere on the east coast, I don't remember where, but that will save money. My friend in Vegas is working at the Nellis base post office now. His name is Tony Scaramosino. He might be able to help. I hope so, anyway we are keeping in touch. I feel like I'm getting out of shape and have been doing my sit-ups again. I'm eating good and it seems every time someone sees me I've got something in my mouth, ha! The other day Bill Bosien said, "I have never seen a guy as little as you eat so much and not get fat." He works in the paint shop. Enough of that. Leonard is asleep now. Last night I got five hours and the night before only three. I should be sleeping but can't. Insomnia?? I had been getting a good 8 hours before, but I can't sleep now. I've been thinking about what I'm going to do when I get to Mather. This is a SAC base and I really don't have any training in SAC. It's all going to be different. I'll do all right, but I don't know why they are moving me. When I go to Mather I'm going to try to get an off base job if I can. I hope I can stay there for the last two years. I wish I had been assigned to Nellis. That really messed up my plans. If I do get an off base job that means transportation. That means a motorcycle because I don't want a car now. I want to get something that I can pay cash for and not make payments. All for now. Fred May 1, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Another month is over, and another day closer to home. Putting another $200 in my savings tomorrow. Hope I like Mather. People here say it is a good base. Maybe I'll stay there for a long time. All for now. Fred May 4, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Things are fine here. Hope you are fine too. Things seem to be settling down finally. We were hit once early in April, I don't remember if I told you. The NVA/VC hit us with 25 rockets on April 5. Someone here is keeping a record on the wall. It has been quiet since than. Not much going on. Bien Hoa is still "off-limits." Went to work, went to the BX, went to the Post Office, came here and took a shower, did some cleaning and now getting ready for bed. I might say on April 10 I decided to stop smoking. I was smoking two or two and a half packs of cigarettes a day. Sometimes I would light one up right after putting one out. So when I came back from R & R I decided to quit. I haven't had a cigarette since April 10. Things here are fine. Everything is great. Fred May 9, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, I wish you two would stop going after Doug so often. It seems he is always going back and forth. The trip to Charleston is so long and down and back and down and back every week or so is just to much. Every time I get a letter saying you're going to get Doug. I wonder if this will be the last time? I even dreamed once you had a bad wreck on the turnpike. There isn't any sense in him coming home every weekend like that. I don't like it at all when Mother makes the trip. I know when she gets back she is just plain worn out. So why don't you try and find another way. How much longer is he going to be up there anyway? You would think Doug wouldn't ask you to make the run so much. Doesn't he know how hard it is for you? I'm glad David Morgan can drive. To bad he doesn't have a car. What is wrong with Doug taking a bus? He could get a bus to Beckley and that wouldn't be so bad. To change the subject. I got my orders today. I'll leave here the 26th of July, I hope. I have a 30 day leave and have to report to Mather after that. I'm going to try to take one bag and send everything else ahead. I'll call you when I hit the U. S. It's getting close to bed time. You can tell everyone that I'm getting short. The base got hit again on the morning of May 5. They hit us with 31 rockets and 60 mortars around 3 that morning and again at 5:50 with 10 rockets. They hit us again on the 7th with five rockets. Don't know if it will ever stop. I'm fine, still tired, still working. All for now, Fred May 13, 1968 Dar Mom and Dad, Hope you are doing fine. Hope Doug is doing the same. I'm fine. Taking up painting, my new hobby. Do you remember how Bill use to paint a lot before he got married? I've been painting some and gave one of them to Leonard. Pete is doing it too. I bought a set a few days ago and having some fun with it. Where is Bill now? See if you can get his address for me. I would like to send him a note sometime now that he is out of school. We have had a few very small attacks, nothing to speak of. No one has been hurt except one person tore his toe nail running down the steps. I'm going to close now. Got a letter from Bobby Brydie. Got your package and the money, thank you. Can't go into town, still off limits. Fred May 23, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Well! You know all the paper you sent me. It's gone. I don't know what happened to it, but it disappeared. A few of the guys was helping me look for it but we couldn't find it. I can write letters on this, but I'm sorry someone took all the paper. Oh well! What can you do? Some people have had radios stolen, me paper and underwear. When you sent me that last care package with two packs of underwear in them, one of them disappeared. For the past three days I've been sick. I'm getting better now. The first day when it hit me, I asked to leave early, at 8, and just made it back here before I lost my supper. I felt bad all that night yesterday. Went to see a doctor. He gave me some pills and told me to stay in bed. That's where I am now. Yesterday I wanted to throw up, but couldn't. Everyone seems to be worried about me. They come by and ask when's visiting hours, or ask if I think I'm going to make it, things like that. They tell me jokes and try to make me feel better. They have been great to me. Good friends. Good people. I feel much better today and might go back to work tomorrow. Strange, but I look forward to getting back to work. I had a bit of a scare a few days ago. Two by the way. The first one. Our NCOIC (Noncommissioned Officer In Charge) got in trouble because some of the weapons people needed hair cuts. So he said if everyone didn't get a hair cut by Wednesday, he would take them and they would have less hair than him. He doesn't have any. One of the guys told me Captain White pointed me out to him one day on the flight line and said "That kid has got to get a hair cut." This is before I got sick. I got a hair cut and they took about 3 inches off leaving about 4. It didn't look any shorter. In fact it looked longer. So I went in again Thursday and got it cut again and that's when I got sick. I'm going to go now. The other thing isn't so important. Not much more that I can add to this except I have around 64 days to go. I'm counting down too. Fred May 23, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Forgot to put in the picture of Dexter and me. Went to see the doctor and should work tomorrow. Be glad to get back to work. I'll start sending everything home when I get down in the 50's. (days to go). All for now, Fred May 24, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Yes next month is my birthday. Hold off on everything till I get home. I'm going to send my things home soon. I don't want to carry anything with me if I can help it. We lost another pilot today. He was the youngest one. I knew him. He was a nice guy. This makes three now. I'm reading "Yes I Can." A good book. This is my second time reading it. Fred June 1, 1968 Dear Mom, Well! This starts another month. Today I left the 604th ACS. I'm now in the 303 MMS. I'm going to enjoy the new change. It looks like I'll be getting two days off a week in this squadron. That's a big change. I have today and Sunday off. That's good. Right now I'm in the 604th and 303 at the same time. Tomorrow I'll sign out of the 604th and Birdsong won't be over me. This I'm very happy of. Birdsong is a nice guy, after you get to know him, but he has turns and temperaments that's hard to deal with. I like him, but I also like being out from under him. I sent my things home yesterday. You might not get them till the end of the month. After you get the box open it and get everything aired out and cleaned. Dry clean everything. Hat and all. I put the record player in a small box. It has six batteries in it. I would like for you to take them out. Everything is fine on this end. Not putting any money in the bank this time. Going to use it to get back home. Fred June 8, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, What ails the U. S.? It seems that everyone is getting killed. Now another Kennedy. I would have cast my vote for him. He was on the right path. Then some Sirhan killed him. He was 24 and I hope they give him 90 years at hard labor. Too many leaders with a vision and voice are being killed. Will it ever end? Going to get a hair cut today. Going over two years in the Air Force on the 16th. Only two more years to go and no more Air Force for me. Can't wait to get back home. I know the time will go fast. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, playing my records and just relaxing for a while. At least I'll be able to sleep. It won't be as noisy and it might be hard at first. But I look forward to getting back home. How many days? About 50? Still a long time. I remember when you came down to England. I hated to see you leave. I watched you pull out and when I couldn't see you any more I went to my room. Everyone was asleep and I put a towel over the lamp so I could see and cut it on. I looked for the nuts you had bought me and there was only two. I had to laugh. I cut off the light and tried to go to sleep, but it wasn't any good. I stayed up and thought about the trip and the month before when I was home. I didn't stay home very much. This time it will be different. I'll stay home and we'll all have a good time. Fred June 17, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Glad to hear that Aunt Jossie and Uncle Guy came down for a visit. That must be some nice weather you are having. I hope it is hot went I get home. Don't know if I could stand any cold at all. About 39 days to go. I still think about the time when you were at England AFB. I think I had more fun then, then the time when I was at Hinton on leave. When I come home this time, I might bring someone with me, Dexter. I was talking to him about it today. He might and he might not. Might not know till the day comes. He said he would like to see a coal mine. Talked about going to Cass Scenic Railroad. I would like for him to stop over, maybe for the night or two. It would take a day to go to Cass. I'm looking forward to the day when I can come in the house and say "I'm HOME." Maybe I won't go to Mather. Just stay home with you. Ha! Every MP in the world would be in Hinton. Not much more to add. The new squadron, 303, is fine. Same people, same work, but not as tense. Birdsong is here, but Cowan is the top man. He is OK. Fred June 22, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Tomorrow will make a year ago when you and Doug came down to England and we went to New Orleans. Getting close to the end of my year here. The way I see it I have four more Saturdays to go. That last Saturday is July 20. Maybe I'll be gone. Anyway Saturday is my day off. Nice to know when you have a day off. Did you get my box? Don't forget to take the batteries out of the record player. I'm not sure of the exact day I'll leave, but I think it will be July 26. Maybe earlier, but not later. I have seven envelopes so you might send about four more. I think that is all I'll need. If it isn't too much trouble could you send some chocolate chip cookies and maybe some crackers or something? Work is easier here now. I don't mind it at all. Even wish I could come back to the same job. Looking forward to coming home. I want some of your great home fried pork chops, biscuits and brown gravy. Corn on the cob and real mashed potatoes. Your wonderful home made apple pie and ice cream. I miss those wonderful home cooked meals and look forward to all of us sitting down together and enjoying it together at the same time. Fred June 29, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, The last Saturday this month. I'm getting short now. Nice!!! Today is my day off. I went down and got my check cashed and went to the BX to buy a new duffle bag. The old one was coming apart. What I can't get in the bag will stay here. Didn't do much today. There isn't a thing more I can say. Getting ready to go to bed. Don't write after the 20th of July. I'll be gone before that letter reaches me. I'm closing my Post Office box on the 25th. I'm looking forward to being home. This is all I can say now. Fred July 6, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Did I ever enjoy the cookies and crackers. They were great and thank you for sending them. I will not leave here till the morning of the 25th. So you should stop writing on the 20th of July. I won't be here to get those letters. Things are really fine here now. Not much is going on. I have moved again. I'm in the same barracks, but up stairs. I'm in a cubical by myself, which is OK. But it doesn't have much space and no privacy to myself at all. I don't like it. I don't like it at all. But for 19 days I can make it. This is what they do to you when you have worked a year and you're getting short. I don't even have sheets and a pillow case. It's raining outside. Getting a lot of rain now. Nothing is going on. Not much more to say. Haven't been in town since January. Nothing to add, Fred July 13, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, Getting short now. Last night I didn't sleep at all. I hope I can get home by the 27th. By the time you get this letter I will have stopped working here. But I will be busy getting ready to leave. It will be like a mad-house around here that last week. I'm sending you about 60 slides that I took over the last few days. They will be coming to you in the mail. It's just like it was when I first got here. Every time a gun goes off I'll jump. Been going to the movies almost every night. They don't have movies on Monday and Tuesday. I haven't been doing much reading. Haven't had that much time and have so many unread books. I wanted to read them but don't see how I'll be able to do it now. It's quite here now. Everyone is getting ready for lights out and I'm going to do the same and go to sleep. Have to get up at 6:00 to go to work. Start processing off the base on the 15th. One more work day. Ha! See you soon! Fred July 21, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, This might be my last letter before I'm out of here. Have almost completed my processing off base and only have three more things to do before the 24th. On the 24th I get paid and pick up my pay records then the next thing is to get my medical records and all the other records and that is it. I'm over at the Airmen's Club now. Drinking a coke and have just finished a Cheeseburger. They have the best Cheeseburger here. The best on base. Only 35¢. The Airmen's Club has only been open for about two months. They just got it built. It is air-conditioned and real nice. They have a band almost every night. I had a little trouble when I turned in my tools. I had lost about 20 and I thought they were going to make me pay for them, but they didn't. I'm glad of that. I went to get my boarding pass Wednesday and found out I could only pick it up on Saturday and Monday. So I went down to get it at 1:00 and they (the almighty they) had a sign up saying "Closed All Day Sat." (the 20th). Boy was I tight jawed. So now I'll have to do that Monday. See you next week, Fred |